Galveston City Council on Thursday voted unanimously to sell the city-owned Shearn Moody Plaza Parking Garage to the Board of Trustees of the Galveston Wharves for $3,001,012.42; and also voted unanimously to approve a letter of intent between the wharves board and the city for the development of the Downtown Intermodal Terminal, subject to a ground lease and development and facilities agreement with the port.

The wharves board will consider the agreement on Monday. The city council held an extensive discussion of the issues related to the garage at Thursday’s workshop meeting. Article

The city council voted to authorize City Attorney Susie Green to hire outside counsel to discuss the potential sale of port property at Pier 21 to George Mitchell.

“I will need someone to review the outstanding debt in detail and the deeds to the property,” Green said. “I will need about $10,000.”

The city council voted to approve an ordinance to tax tangible personal property in transit, which would otherwise have been exempt under a recently enacted bill by the Texas Legislature.

The city council voted to approve a specific use permit for a bed and breakfast at 1019 16th Street.

The city council voted to defer until December 1 an ordinance granting Cool Tours, LLC a ten year permit to operate a sightseeing and tour franchise.

The city council voted to defer until December 1 consideration of the staff’s recommendation for the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Housing Program Round 2 in the amount of $122,612,652.

A proposal from Aviles Engineering Corporation for materials testing services for the Pelican Island 20-inch waterline project was withdrawn from the agenda and was not considered for action by the city council.

The city council took no action on agenda items calling for giving direction on the process to select a new city manager and on issues related to the Disaster Housing Recovery Program.

Interim Police Chief Henry Porretto introduced members of the 27th Graduating Class of the Galveston Citizen’s Police Academy to the city council. Listen: MP3RealPlayer

Municipal Utilities Director Eric Wilson and Jeff Peters, the principal engineer and senior project manager of CDM reported to the city council on the recantation presentation of the Bentley Systems Award to the City of Galveston at a conference in Amsterdam, “for innovations in water and wastewater design”. Listen: MP3RealPlayerNews Release